Who's around you listening?  If co-workers, you must show respect, even at a party outside.

Sumimasen has wider uses too, some surprising ones like thank you. There are even higher formal ones, like shitsurei and moshiwake. Gomen useful for when physically causing trouble, like bumping into somebody. 

Beginners -- books can't do it all. Different beginners books cover different combinations of grammar even. You also need a lot of listening. Don't forget this is the age of internet multimedia (hint hint).

There are plenty of opportunities to speak to real live Japanese here in Malaysia too. Many want to exchange practice English and local languages.

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hehe. i just want to learn to read, and able to listen to anime without resorting to subs. gonna take a while.

i see gomen and gomenasai. i see anime people say gomena but i can't find any reference on the internet.

looking at the text so far, kanji i see already can agak agak meaning cos i read Chinese text but i donno how to read it in japanese and I see how they use it quite differently. probably the biggest difference i spotted is 青 that means "green" in Chinese but in Japanese, that Kanji text means "blue".

hehe. i just want to learn to read, and able to listen to anime without resorting to subs. gonna take a while.

i see gomen and gomenasai. i see anime people say gomena but i can't find any reference on the internet.

looking at the text so far, kanji i see already can agak agak meaning cos i read Chinese text but i donno how to read it in japanese and I see how they use it quite differently. probably the biggest difference i spotted is 青 that means "green" in Chinese but in Japanese, that Kanji text means "blue".

青is definitely blue in jap
but the green traffic light here is also call 青信号

The Japanese word ao (青?, n., aoi (青い?, adj.)), the exact same kanji character as the Chinese qīng above, can refer to either blue or green depending on the situation. Modern Japanese has also adopted the Chinese word for green (緑 midori?), although this was not always so. Ancient Japanese did not have this distinction: the word midori only came into use in the Heian period, and at that time (and for a long time thereafter) midori was still considered a shade of ao. Educational materials distinguishing green and blue only came into use after World War II, during the Occupation[citation needed]: thus, even though most Japanese consider them to be green, the word ao is still used to describe certain vegetables, apples and vegetation. Ao is also the name for the color of a traffic light, which is bluer than in English-speaking countries. However, most other objects—a green car, a green sweater, and so forth—will generally be called midori. Japanese people also sometimes use the word guriin (グリーン), based on the English word "green", for colors. The language also has several other words meaning specific shades of green and blue.

Does anyone have the list of 196 kanji characters for the latest kanji reform by the Japanese government?

Does anyone have the list of 196 kanji characters for the latest kanji reform by the Japanese government?

Which 196 characters? Are you talking about JLPT or the jouyou kanji. If it's the jouyou kanji you can get it from MEXT's website by googling 常用漢字 . I don't think there's a grade with 196 characters though.

single kanji might have similar meaning to chinese but two or three kanji would give different meaning. afaik la.

sometimes single character oso different meaning.. totally.. hehe..

sometimes single character oso different meaning.. totally.. hehe..

holyshit aburex 

ZOMG IT'S ABUREX

You're still alive eh aburex.....damn, how long has it been